A Lesson In Restraint
by AshlynCouslandTheirin
Summary: An AU in which Solas is a high school professor and Ellana Lavellan is a student, told from her freshman year to her senior. What starts out as an innocent friendship turns into a desperate fight to resist each other as the years pass and Ellana blossoms into a young woman. Neither of them had ever been very good at resisting. Slow burn, underage sex, lots of UST.
August 15th, Freshman Year, Day 1

The first day was by far the most irritating, in Solas' opinion. Often times the first day of some journey or other set the tone for the remainder of said journey. The same could not be said of highschool.  
It generally consisted of a bunch of excitable teenagers clamoring together in new, flashy clothes, teachers sighing and yelling at someone not to run in the halls (why was there always someone running) and the seniors high-fiving and shouting "last year!" Then, scant minutes before the bell, students would collectively realize they had to find new classrooms, and would form a mass of moving bodies all trying to go different directions. The seniors' one redeeming quality was they at least knew where they were going, and tended to direct the younger ones.  
All in all, it was loud, crowded, and chalk full of hormones. Solas hated every second of it. He'd learned years ago the best option was just to get to his classroom early on and wait for his students to mill in. The noise was at least muffled by the door then, and he could go over his lesson plan once more.  
Eventually the kids began to lumber in, all freshmen, and he ignored the odd looks he recieved, as he had been expecting them. Elves were fairly uncommon in this town - he could count on one hand how many students were elves in this school - so he at least knew that the stares were about the novelty and not because he had something on his face, say. There was the occasional dirty look, but generally the kids were pretty tolerant.  
The room was just about full up, only the usual few chairs in the front left empty, when she walked in.  
It wasn't one of those lightning bolt moments. Light did not suddenly shine down from the heavens, and no spirits appeared to sing an angelic chorus. In fact, if not for the fact that she was the only other person in the room who was an elf, he probably wouldn't have paid much attention to her at all.  
But an elf was exactly what this girl was, and while the students were tolerant of the only elven professor, an elven student would have no such luck. He'd made it his personal mission some time ago to look after any elves who were in his class - at the very least to be someone they could come and speak to if something terrible happened. So he took an extra moment taking her in.  
She was pretty, that was obvious, but he didnt think much of it. She was only a child after all. Her hair was auburn and she had lovely green eyes. She was gangly, like many of her peers, and her uniform was obviously a size or so too large. He would bet it was a hand-me-down. What did surprise him was the vallaslin of Mythal on her cheekbones. She couldn't have been more than fifteen, and the ritual was generally done a few years later in life. It wasn't unheard of, but he'd never met an elf who'd had the ritual that young, as far as he knew.  
The moment passed and she glanced around the room before settling into a chair at the front, across from his desk. A number of whispers had erupted at her entrance, but nothing untoward happened. At the very least, she didn't seem put off or surprised. Solas doubted she'd even noticed. You get used to that sort of thing.

* * *

During roll call he discovered her name was Ellana, and strove to remeber it. Not that it would be particularly difficult - the humans' names were very different from her classically Dalish one. He wondered idly as he went over the syllabus if there were any other freshman elves, and if they would be Dalish as well. Perhaps one would be an elf from a bigger city?  
Solas was about halfway through explaining what percentage of their final grade each of their assignments would be when someome in the back of the room loudly coughed "knife ear!"  
Solas spun around to find the culprit, the predictable giggles fading away at his glare. There was a boy leaning far back in his chair with a smug grin on his face. It took a moment for the name to come back to him...Samson.  
"Samson, please escort yourself to the principal's office, I'll not have that kind of language in my classroom."  
The boy stood in an exaggeratedly lazy fashion, and his grin never faltered. Just as he opened the door Solas continued. "I will be checking to make sure you made it there alright. Do be sure to arrive in a timely manner."  
The boy's face finally fell and the door closed rather loudly. Solas glanced at Ellana, who had looked down at her desk in a somewhat embarrassed manner, but was now smiling politely. He wondered if she really wasn't bothered, or if it was false bravado. Nevertheless, he slid back into his presentation, determined to ignore the entire incident.

* * *

With the chime of the bell the room burst into movement, despite the fact that Solas was halfway through a sentence. He was tempted to tell his class thay he released them, not the bell...but it was the first day. He would let it go for now.  
Ellana took the longest to re-pack her things, purposely he suspected. Sure enough, when the last student had left, she walked up to his desk to speak to him.

"Professor?"  
He raised his eyebrows, as though he had just noticed she was still in the room. "May I help you, Ellana?"  
She smiled. "I just wanted to thank you for earlier."  
He recalled the unpleasant incident with Samson and nodded. "It wasn't a problem. If he continues to give you trouble feel free to speak to me. I'll see that its taken care of."  
Her shoulders relaxed a bit and he realized she'd been holding in some tension. Gratitude coated her voice. "Thank you."  
She was well aware of her situation he realized, and how she would more than likely be treated here. "You are welcome. I hope the remainder of your day is more pleasant."  
She gave him another smile and bid him a good day before quickly making her way out the door, so as not to be late.  
Solas tapped his pencil against the surface of his desk, frowning. Ellana seemed like a bright girl - well, it was hard to tell just yet, but she had looked genuinely interest in the subjects they would be studying this semester. He hated to think that a curious mind like hers might be squashed by negativity and bullying. There were a few elf-sympathetic teachers in the school, like Joesphine, for instance. Perhaps Ellana would be in one of their classes. He could at least ask them to keep an eye on her.  
Deciding he would do just that during lunch, he prepared his material for the incoming students, a small amused smile gracing his mouth as they tiredly shuffled in. Already they wanted out.  
"Good morning class. Welcome to Skyhold Highschool."

* * *

A/N: Oh God another one please save me from Solavellan hell.


End file.
